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Alien III
- An Audible Original Drama
- Narrated by: Tom Alexander, Barbara Barnes, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Lorelei King, Laurel Lefkow, Keith Wickham
- Series: Alien
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording Audiobook
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
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Publisher's Summary
Audible is bringing William Gibson’s uncovered Alien III script to life in audio for the first time, to mark the 40th Anniversary of the birth of the Alien franchise.
Alongside a full cast, Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen reprise their iconic roles as Corporal Hicks and Bishop from the 1986 film Aliens.
Father of cyberpunk William Gibson’s original script for Alien III, written in 1987 as a sequel to Aliens, never made it to our screens, although it went on to achieve cult status among fans as the third instalment that might have been after being leaked online.
This terrifying, cinematic multicast dramatisation - directed by the multi-award-winning Dirk Maggs - is the chance to experience William Gibson’s untold story and its terrifying, claustrophobic and dark encounters between humans and aliens, as a completely immersive audio experience.
The story begins with the Sulaco on its return journey from LV-426. On board the military ship are the cryogenically frozen skeleton crew of that film’s survivors: Ripley, Hicks, Newt and Bishop.
We travel aboard and hear an alarm blare. Our heroes are no longer alone....
Starring: Tom Alexander, Barbara Barnes, Michael Biehn, Cliff Chapman, Samantha Coughlan, Ben Cura, Dar Dash, Harry Ditson, Mairead Doherty, Lance Henriksen, Graham Hoadly, Lorelei King, Laurel Lefkow, Martin McDougall, Sarah Pitard, Michael Roberts, David Seddon, Andrew James Spooner, Siri Steinmo, Dai Tabuchi, Keith Wickham, Rebecca Yeo.
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Our favorite moments from Alien III

About the Director
Dirk Maggs is an innovator in the world of radio and audio production. A prolific writer and director, he is known for his cinematic approach to audio, utilizing scripts and fine-tuned sound effects layered with music to create a near visual effect. Maggs has previously worked on BBC Radio adaptations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. He also excels at adapting graphic novels for radio. His award-winning credits include Judge Dredd, Superman Lives, and Batman: Knightfall. At Audible, Maggs has proven to be a breakout star, directing the groundbreaking original Alien series and adapting The X-Files: Stolen Lives.

About the Performer
Michael Connell Biehn was born on July 31, 1956 in Anniston, Alabama, to Marcia (Connell) and Don Biehn, a lawyer. He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and at age 14 moved with his family to Lake Havasu, Arizona, where he won a drama scholarship to the University of Arizona. He left prematurely two years later to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. His first big role was as a psychotic fan stalking Lauren Bacall in The Fan (1981), and later appeared in The Lords of Discipline (1983). He hit the big time when he was cast as Kyle Reese, the man sent back through time to stop Arnold Schwarzenegger in James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984). This established a good working relationship with Cameron, a relationship that should have catapulted Biehn to international stardom. He starred in Cameron’s subsequent films, Aliens (1986) and The Abyss (1989), the latter a standout performance as unstable Navy SEAL officer Lt. Hiram Coffey. In the 90s, he starred in films like Navy Seals (1990), K2 (1991), and was particularly memorable as Johnny Ringo in Tombstone (1993). Biehn is married to Jennifer Blanc Biehn and the father of five sons. He made his directorial debut with The Victim starring himself and Jennifer. They started their company Blanc Biehn productions once The Victim was released by Starz/ Anchor Bay. They continue to make movies and give lots of new talent a creative say in filmmaking.

About the Performer
Iconic actor Lance Henriksen has starred in a multitude of films and television projects exemplifying the diversity of his talent. He’s worked with some of the most prominent directors in the motion picture industry, including Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, alongside Richard Dreyfuss and Francois Truffaut), James Cameron (Piranha II: The Spawning, The Terminator, and Aliens), Sidney Lumet, Jim Jarmusch (The Dead Man), Kathryn Bigelow, John Woo, Paul W. S. Anderson, and Sam Raimi. Born in New York, Henriksen studied at the Actors Studio and began his career Off Broadway in Eugene O'Neill's Three Plays of the Sea. One of his first film appearances was for director Sidney Lumet in Dog Day Afternoon, followed by Lumet's Network and Prince of the City. Henriksen's performance as Frank Black in Fox TV's critically acclaimed series, Millennium, created by Chris Carter (The X-Files), garnered three consecutive Golden Globe nominations. He was also nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the TNT original film The Day Lincoln Was Shot. In addition to his abilities as an actor, Henriksen is an accomplished painter and potter. His talent as a ceramist has enabled him to create some of the most unusual ceramic artwork available on the art market today. Henriksen resides in Southern California.
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What listeners say about Alien III
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mary Karowski
- 11-09-19
The movie that should have been!
I love the alien franchise and have passed that love onto my own children. My youngest son of 13 won’t read the books but loves the movies and listens to the audiobooks and audio dramas with me. I recently picked this one up and explained the background to him about this being the original movie script for aliens three that got scrapped...we listened to it while taking a few drives to run errands and one long trip to the coast to fish...he listened raptly and even jumped a few times in his seat...when it was done he gave it the best review that could be given: I wish they had made this movie instead of the prison one. It was awesome !
13 people found this helpful
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- Bonmot
- 06-30-19
Mediocre. Lost my attention several times.
Unmemorable dialogue was overly technical or mundane. The absence of Ripley was a big mistake. The android Bishop was too clinical and almost indifferent. Hicks was good, but not enough of him. Overall, I didn't get to know or care about the characters enough to feel for them.
The sound effects and atmosphere created by sound were amazing.
This needed a better script that first built our relationship with its new characters before killing them. They felt interchangeable.
8 people found this helpful
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- Carter Hooper
- 06-11-19
Two Words: "Cocooned Lemurs"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is about the most original thing in this turd. Thank god this thing didn't get produced, the special effects person would have stormed off the set after being tasked with making "cocooned lemurs" anything but laughable. This makes the Alien III film that was produced look like a classic. I would have loved to see Sigourney Weaver's face after she read this script: "Am I to understand you want me to reprise my role as one of the most iconic female film heroes of all time in a film where I am unconscious 90% of the time and then shot out to safety behind Newt?" (who gets to go to Oregon!) Rehashes the first two in spectacularly unoriginal fashion, except, I guess, that this time the Xenomorphs can just infect you and have you turn into one of them. Oh, and the new bad guys are the Russians and the Chinese. It is, however, nice to hear Michael Biehn and Lance Hendrickson again, and thing is immaculately produced. But on the whole it's basically a terrible bore, not even worth the price of free. As I have learned over the years, just because it has William Gibson's name on it does not make it good. And Audible, stop littering your bestseller lists with these "originals", it makes it tough to weed through and find the good stuff.
17 people found this helpful
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- Doug D. Eigsti
- 06-03-19
The Thrill is Back Baby!
Thanks to Paramount for resurrecting this piece of A L I E N lore. The production is absolutely stellar; it is a full-on full-cast dramatic presentation, with sound effects and the smell of buttered popcorn in the air. The two hour length and pacing is the same as a motion picture; so this is as close as we're ever going to get to the ALIEN III that might have been. (Although I am a fan of the double-Y chromo boys on Fury 161.) Having Michael Biehn reprising his role as Hicks was genius. He owns every scene with his laconic reaction to every crisis. The beloved artificial person Bishop is back as well, voiced by one of my favorites, the original Lance Heinrickson. And Laurel Lefkow must have undergone some vocal chord gene therapy using Sigourney Weaver's DNA because she sounds freakishly like Ripley in every scene, in every situation. The story is tight. The action is constant. The Xenomorphs are everywhere! What else would you expect? What more do you want? Is it cannon? It sure feels like a genuine ALIEN movie when you are immersed in it. But no, it presents some insurmountable continuity problems for Ripley's timeline. But it is an engaging experience nonetheless. Get busy and get your thrill on!
FYI:
The number of fully dramatized ALIEN audio productions is now up to 4. I can recommend them all as some of the finest audio drama on Audible.
(1) ALIEN Out of the Shadows
(2) ALIEN Sea of Sorrows
(3) ALIEN River of Pain
(4) ALIEN III
And if you are looking for a great original novel in this series try ALIEN The Cold Forge.
4 people found this helpful
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- jonathan jones
- 05-30-19
outstanding! wish there be of a follow-up to this
outstanding amazing this goes right next to aliens out of the shadows and alien Sea of Sorrow
14 people found this helpful
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- Kingsley
- 05-31-19
Before Alien3 there was William Gibson's Alien III
Before we got the mess that was Alien3 there was a script by William Gibson (Johnny Mnemonic, Nueromancer). This was the original plan for the third Alien movie. Nearly 30 years later it has now been released, both as a comic book and as this audible Original.
In Alien3 much of the work of Aliens was undone - killing off Newt, Hicks and Bishop and reducing the reoccurring cast back down to Ripley. This was seen as a major issue, as it undid the heroic work of saving Newt previously. This previously unreleased screen play fixes this issue, keeping those characters alive, and in fact has a much greater focus on Hicks and Bishop than on Ripley (possibly part of the reason it was shelved at the time). Rather than the prison colony, and the dog-alien, of the movie we get more Wayland-Yulanti antics as they try to capture and weaponise the xenomorphs.
The story is good, and fits in better with the 'evil corporation tries to use Aliens' story that was Alien, aliens and Resurrection.
If it's been a while since you have seen Aliens, don't worry the introduction to the audio does a great job of recapping Aliens - using some audio from the movie (or re-recording it?) and presenting it in a 'after action report' style.
The audio is a full production, with a full cast, music and sound effects. It is (to borrow another company's tagline) like a movie in your ears. There is a lot of people describing things that they might not have to if there was visuals, but it works well to keep it clear what is going. I never had an issue following what was going on, but I have previously read the Dark Horse comic run so that possibly helped.
It is great to have the actors playing Hicks and Bishop back in those roles. The voice acting, not just from them but from all the voice actors is very good.
A joy to listen to.
8 people found this helpful
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- Alan
- 05-31-19
Audio Dramatization of the Movie that never was
The original Alien III screenplay (1987) by cyberpunk author William Gibson never reached production. Early director Renny Harlin had rejected it and by the time the final Alien³ (1992) reached production with director David Fincher, the 1987 script (with its Soviet-Union-inspired United Progressive Peoples component of characters) was out-dated. David Fincher had his own ideas on top of an interim Vincent Ward screenplay. The final product ended up being a mixed bag with the studio taking the production away from Fincher to the point that he has disavowed it along with the later re-edits that were made.
For the 40th Anniversary of the original Alien (1979) movie, Audible Studios commissioned an audio dramatization of the Gibson screenplay. Dramatist and director Dirk Maggs has made a fantastic audio enactment of the screenplay and has enhanced it considerably with added scenes and characters. Producing a screenplay without the visuals requires an increased amount of narration and description that was not present on the page*. The main addition is a full 12-minutes of introductory backstory that basically recreates the entire conclusion of the Aliens (1986) film. That may sound unnecessary, until you find out [mild spoiler] that fan favourite Ripley spends most of the Alien III screenplay in a non-speaking comatose state. So that action set-piece was the only way to give Ripley a stronger cameo. Actress Laura Lefkow does a spot-on impersonation of Sigourney Weaver in this role.
No spoilers about the rest of the plot. I will say however, especially in this age of disrespecting fan favourite characters (e.g. Disney Star Wars, Season 8 Game of Thrones etc.), that the Aliens characters get a proper continuing story here (although the reduced Ripley role was surprising, did Gibson think Sigourney Weaver wasn't returning?). Original Aliens actors Michael Biehn and Lance Henrickson return as Hicks and Bishop, with the child character Newt voiced by Mairead Doherty. I did find the increased cast (22/23 voice parts) a bit hard to follow, so I ended up assembling the following Cast of Characters (in order of appearance as best as I could work out) Listing:
Returning Characters from Aliens
Bishop, an android, survivor from LV-426 (Lance Henriksen)
Ripley, 3rd Officer & survivor of Nostromo & survivor of LV-426 (Laurel Lefkow)
Carter Burke, a Weyland-Yutani executive (in brief flashback scene) (Tom Alexander)
Corporal Dwayne Hicks, a Colonial Marine, survivor from LV-426 (Michael Biehn)
Newt (nickname of Rebecca Jordan), child survivor from LV-426 (Mairead Doherty)
Mother, voice of Computer (Lorelei King)
United Progressive Peoples (UPP) Commandos who board Sulaco when it drifts into the UPP Sector
Kurtz, UPP Commando Captain (David Seddon)
Desolas, UPP Commando (called Juanito by the Captain) (Cliff Chapman)
Chang, UPP Commando (Rebecca Yeo)
Crew at Anchorpoint Station, a Weyland-Yutani facility
Jackson, Operations Chief at Anchorpoint (Siri Steinmo)
Tully, Charles A., biolab tech, a crew member on Anchorpoint (Dar Dash)
Spence, crew member on Anchorpoint (Samantha Coughlan)
Rosetti, senior scientist, crew member on Anchorpoint (Martin McDougall)
Weyland-Yutani Weapons Division visitors to Anchorpoint Station from Gateway Station
Kevin Fox, a Weyland-Yutani Corp Weapons Division officer (Keith Wickham)
Susan Wells, a Weyland-Yutani Corp Weapons Division officer (Barbara Barnes)
Further Crew at Anchorpoint Station
Walker, Chief Mechanic, crew member on Anchorpoint (Harry Ditson)
Sterling, biolab team, crew member on Anchorpoint (Andrew James Spooner)
Tatsumi, biolab team, crew member on Anchorpoint (Dai Tabuchi)
UPP Crew at a Cybernetics Laboratory in Rodina Station, a UPP facility
Colonel Doctor Suslov, principal science officer at Rodina Station (Michael Roberts)
Voice Communication from Gateway
Stoddard (voiced by ?)
Further UPP Crew at Rodina Station
Jorje Rivera, Diplomatic Officer at Rodina Station (Ben Cura)
Nevsky, a Science Officer at Rodina Station (Graham Hoadly)
Further Crew at Anchorpoint Station
Halliday, ecotech at the ecomodule in Anchorpoint (Sarah Pitard)
The audio production, foley effects, ambiance and soundtrack music for this was excellent. It would certainly rate a [5] along with the cast performances. I would just bump it down a notch for not providing a cast of characters.
Alien III was available as a free Audible Original for members as of May 30, 2019. It is expected to be one of the free Audible Originals for members in June 2019 (available June 6, 2019) after which it revert to a standard price.
Trivia and Links
*The original William Gibson screenplay is available online at http://www.awesomefilm.com/script/Alien3.txt.
You can read the rather long production story of Alien III (1987) to Alien3 (1992) on Wikipedia here href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_3#1987–1989"
197 people found this helpful
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- Doug
- 05-31-19
Stays Frosty
For two hours, this is awesome entertainment. The opening ten minutes, in which Bishop recounts the ending to Aliens, complete with sound effects, sets the best possible tone. I was in my car, heading to work and hit play. After a few minutes, I hear the blaring klaxons of LV-426 and a female voice annoucning "You now have two minutes to reach minimum safe distance." I can't lie. I felt a jolt of pure, almost boyish exuberance.
There are some downsides. The actual story is lacking in terms of scope and plot. Ripley is sleeping through the whole story and Newt, although definitely present, is shipped back to earth. Those are the biggest character arc problems I had with this version. Also, Alien III runs with the plot premises that made Alien Covenant so bad. Namely, airborne alien DNA can just recreate the Alien species. I think the queen-egg-chest gestation is still the most horrific biological construct ever, and I don't know why this franchise insists on moving away from it.
The upsides are here too. The new characters are actually pretty good, in my opinion, and the sound effects & production work excel. But there are two things that make this worth the purchase in full. One, Michael Beihn. Every time I heard the real Hicks giving a command, I smiled. It's Hicks, man! We never saw him again after Aliens, so it was instant pleasure to have him alive and well on this audiobook. Two, the book/script is rich with Alien-Aliens lore. The writer understands the Aliens universe and keeps that universe fresh in the settings and dialogue. Alien III "feels" like a true follow up to Aliens. I'll add that while Lance Henriksen doesn't blow me away, he's still an awesome compliment to the story in his reprisal of Bishop.
If you're like me...someone who is still waiting and chasing the thrill of 1986 Aliens...buy the audiobook. It has a little bit of that magic we've all been looking for and haven't found in a long time.
139 people found this helpful
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- John
- 06-01-19
Nearly impossible to follow.. so bummed..
Michael Biehn & Lance Henrikson deserve better. They do their best to carry you through. In fact If Henrikson continued with the narration present in the beginning, the story mightve had a chance to flow better but only up to a point.
I realised a little over an hour in, that things werent sounding good.. it fell apart from there on to the point where as much as i wanted to care, i couldnt.. Ive listened to dozens of audiobooks. None were as hard to follow as this one... again, so bummed.
20 people found this helpful
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- lance williams
- 05-30-19
We waited for this....
The story was horrid, with poor detailing. What did the hybrid even look like, pervious books did amazing jobs at detailing the environment and setting the mood. I enjoyed the voice acting but the dialogue was very B horror filmish. I’ve listen to every Aliens audio book, seen the movies numerous of times and read the comics, but this was def. on the poor end of the story telling ladder . At least it was free....but I would have been more than willing to pay for quality.
18 people found this helpful
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- Mr csayer
- 05-30-19
Retcon the alien franchise.
It’s easy to see why this ambitious unproduced screenplay was pushed aside in favour of more traditional and cheaper movie . The sets would have been bigger and the ships more detailed. The story moves towards the polictical and ethical implications of weaponising the Alien.
If you read this alongside the comic book (recently released under dark horse) it will truly bring the movie to life.
It takes the franchise in provocative and interesting directions. It’s great to have the characters back again and Hicks and Bishop take more of a lead role. I think they were unsure if sigourney would return or maybe fox wanted a male audience.
So let’s forget about Alien 3 and obviously Alien resurrection and cuddle up to some familiar friends and enemies.
Maybe next Audible could explore the wooden planet script and the religious iconography of Vincent Wards script.
10 people found this helpful
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- Simon
- 05-30-19
So, Alien 3 Could have been MUCH better!
Alien was one of my favourite films of all time, few films have had me riveted to the screen quite so absolutely. Aliens, while different in character, was a fine follow-up and since then I've lost count of the number of discussions I've had with friends about which is the better film with us being split fairly well down the middle. What happens if you add Alien 3 into the mix? Well, the answer is that we're still evenly split, half of us with Alien being the best and the other half with Aliens. No-one but no-one ever tries to make a case for Alien 3! It's hard to imagine what they were thinking of choosing the script that they did and now I think we have a definite answer to the big question, yes there were better options out there!
What's great about this is that it delivers another action flick like Aliens albeit only in audio. Maggs / Audible throw their considerable expertise and experience with the franchise at it. There is a lovely solidity to the sound effects, really crunchy, solid sound with the noises made by the aliens particularly impressive. I can't wait to try this again through quality headphones, it sounded great through the Bluetooth so when I put a real bit of oomph behind it I think it will rock! The acting is also extremely good for the most part.
On the other hand, it does rely heavily on repeating things that have been done before and I don't think the story quite hits the heights, nor does Gibson's script use all the surviving characters as well as he could have done. It's also of course quite short for an audiobook though that's not surprising - it is a film script after all!
So, no doubt in my mind that while this isn't perfect, it's a class above the story / script they used for Alien 3 the film. I can possibly see why they didn't plump for this one, what I can't see is why they chose the one they did above it. In any case, I'm more than happy to have spent a credit on it and I am going to enjoy listening to it again at home!
By the way, if you can't remember how Alien 2 finished up then don't worry there is a good reprise of how it panned out at the start of this.
31 people found this helpful
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- AIMEE FERRIER
- 06-01-19
disappointing
This sadly plays out like they're just reading the stage directions from the script and not an actual drama at all. It's not been very well adapted as an audio drama, and the script has some terrible clunking lines in it. The use of Bishop as a narrator doesn't work very well as he is too disapassionately removed. The story itself is also not terribly exciting or as interesting as it's been hyped up to be; certainly no better than the original Alien 3 film.
18 people found this helpful
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- SlothUK
- 05-30-19
Enjoyed, Albeit Short
Great to hear the return of Michael Biehn and lance Henrickson the Aliens universe and a worthy return. Sadly I do feel it was rather short, hope they continue the story line of the end of the audiobook with new material.
5 people found this helpful
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- Gareth Davies
- 08-24-19
I can see why this script ended up in the bin
Sorry to say it, but I was really disappointed with this Alien dramatisation. The previous ones were very good indeed, and I'm afraid to say this pales in comparison. It was great to hear Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen reprise their roles from Aliens, but the story just didn't do them justice. Half the time I had no idea what was going on - where were the characters? Which spaceship or spacestation were they on? Who of the supporting cast were talking (they all sounded the same, except for the Russians and Chinese guys)? And, it is much too short. And the story was pretty pants to boot. Avoid.
8 people found this helpful
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- Heinz57
- 05-31-19
He's coming in. I feel safer already........
As a 16 year old, my first experience of the Alien series came from watching Aliens on ye olde VHS at a friends house. I was entranced and have been in awe of it ever since. I have bored countless friends and family stupid, reciting lines and reiterating how good it is.
I then watched Alien and subsequently and most depressingly of all Alien 3. Alien 3 just left me feeling hollow. Dead. Apart from a few of Fiorina "Fury" 161’s finest inmates; they just killed everyone. Of the film itself, there were some good performances. I thought Charles Dance was very good. It was different film, some may argue it’s merits but for me, not in a way that either equalled or improved upon it’s predecessors.
Imagine my interest then at Niell Blomkamp’s idea at an alternative Alien 3 – which unfortunately hasn’t gone anywhere – and then the Dark Horse and Audible interpretations of Gibson’s alternative Alien 3 screenplay.
For the Audible version, it’s great to have Hicks (Michael Biehn) and Bishop (Lance Heriksen) back. Since we last saw him; Bishop has developed something of a whistle when he speaks, probably something to do with being ripped asunder by an Alien Queen. Teeth not quite what they used to be. Ripley (Lauren Leftkow) is given little air time in this production by when she’s there, her Ripley is spot on as it is in the other Audible Alien titles.
The story is interesting, I’m glad Gibson introduced some new ideas both political and of the Alien’s adaptability amidst the ever present somewhat pantomime face of the villainous “company” and we all know what they are after.
My only disappointment is there isn’t more of it. It is woefully short and a shame the screenplay couldn’t have been given the novelisation treatment. I have geek-ely (not a word) been waiting 33 years for someone to finally bring this together; the alternative which should have been so thanks Audible but can we please have more.
16 people found this helpful
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- VM
- 09-08-20
A masterpiece of clichéd screenplay and dialogue
Well, it had bad sound and stereotypical casting. All it needed was lots of action on a screen so dark you couldn't see what was going on.
2 people found this helpful
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- CX
- 01-09-20
Disappointing
It began well but fell flat in the middle. very disappointing ending, if you can even call it an ending. It's enjoyable enough as an addition to the Alien franchise if you're really into it but really doesn't offer much. I had high hopes but feel let down. The performances were fantastic however, particularly as many of the original actors returned.
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-06-20
rubbish
absolute garbage, boring untrue to to the original story and it's heritage. who ever commissioned this crap needs a headcheck.
2 people found this helpful
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- Lukas33
- 07-29-19
Low Brow & Forgettable
Henrikson and Beihn give earnest efforts, but both sound much much older than their characters should be (unavoidable) but the writing is dull, the acting kind of cold and sterile, the concepts of the Aliens as well are rubbish.
The way the alien gets on the Sulaco is even more stupid than the movie.
Not for me personally.
2 people found this helpful
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- Peter R Jones
- 08-06-19
What we almost got...
This is the full-cast dramatisation of the script William Gibson wrote for Alien III, starring the voice talent of Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn.
I loved it.
It adds some crazy new ideas to the Alien mythos -- more factions, crazy xeno biology -- and follows the adventures of the survivors of the ill-fated Sulaco expedition. Mostly. The one detail I did not like (and possibly the reason the story did not get made, although I have not read up on the story behind these decisions) is that it sidelines Ripley. It also makes zero attempt to describe the monsters -- but I guess if you don't already know what a xenomorph is from the movies, you're unlikely to be picking this up anyway.
2 people found this helpful
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- Bryan D.
- 03-30-21
Why didn't they do the movie like this???
Big fan of Alien and Aliens and even more disappointed in Alien 3 and 4 now knowing this script could have been used. Great follow-up you can only wish was done for the big screen like it should have been.
1 person found this helpful
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- Thomas
- 07-26-19
It's ok
Dunno if we really needed this. But it's nice to hear a couple of the original cast members reprising their roles.
1 person found this helpful
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- David G Francis
- 07-05-19
The sequel that should have happened.
It is genuinely mind boggling to think this wasn’t seen as viable third act in the alien saga. Admittedly Ripley doesn’t feature but a slick and simple rewrite of one character could have amended that issue. It has everything from acknowledging the past journey of the characters right through to unleashing new and interesting incarnations of the alien. I am sure it was used as source material for both resurrection and Prometheus as certain aspects have been lifted. Such a shame, not that I hate the Alien 3 that made it to production, but rather that this opened the franchise to so much more interesting and real possibilities in future instalments. Great listen and highly recommend.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 07-02-19
Superb drama!
It is such a pity this story was not made into a movie. Gibson is a gifted writer and it would have made for the best continuation of the franchise and story of Ripley. The acting by Tom Alexander, Barbara Barnes, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Lorelei King, Laurel Lefkow, Keith Wickham is wonderful and keeps you right there with them...
1 person found this helpful
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- Drexill
- 03-31-22
great SciFi, picking up from Aliens
nicely produced audio. Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn help this seamlessly join onto Aliens. The story is good, entertaining enough and sorry enough that it's not a slog to get through it at all. some small aspects/voices are a big cheesy but overall this is a very good audiobook
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- Matthew
- 01-28-22
Makes Alien 3 look good
I'm not a fan of the Alien 3 movie but it is at least preferable to this script. This version has a bit of a "straight to video" or episodic feel to it. All the main characters are allowed to continue unharmed into any future movie changing as little as possible ready for future adventures. I'm not sure what the situation was with casting when this script was written but, whatever the reason, the character of Ripley has almost nonexistent in this story. I guess Sigourney Weaver wasn't on board.
Some new ideas are added to the Alien universe. Some like the Communists colonies are a good addition to world building, other ideas like the new methods of reproduction for the Aliens don't fit well with the previous movies. Why haven’t these capabilities been used before?
As for the performance I enjoyed hearing Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen in their roles again.
But this is essentially a screenplay being converted to an audiobook with minimal changes. I don't think this works well since a screenplay has the expectation of being able to show the viewers what's happening on screen, unlike an audiobook. Some important events are confusing. [SPOILER, a character spontaneously transforms from human to some sort of alien human hybrid]
I got Alien III for free on Audible Plus and it is only 2 hours long so I don’t feel ripped off but overall this is pretty half baked.
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- Liam Harrisom
- 01-04-22
The best audio drama ever
Nothing beats Alien 3, the entire production, SFX, Music, voice acting, and writing is beyond exceptional.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-20-21
Excellent short screenplay.
Excellent short screenplay as part of the Alien series. I would of liked it longer or as a full length novel as I always enjoy this series!
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